Chrissierocks!

Kulia At the Beach

This is one of the only pictures I managed to snap of Kulia at the beach.  Turns out, she hates sand.  Can’t stand it in fact.  As soon as her delicate little tooties hit the beach, she threw a fit.  She wanted that sand OFF.  NOW.  This made for some difficulties during out trip.  Kulia was the first out of the water and the first headed back to the house every single time.  Just the idea of having to go down on the sand would cause her eyes to well up with tears.  Poor girl.  Hopefully next year she can get over her sand aversion….

Today was the annual field trip to the pumpkin patch with Kulia’s preschool.  This is our third time through but the first time we have gone without Leina.  On the way over, Kulia and I were talking about meeting up with her little school friends.  I was very excited to finally meet these kids she talks so much about.  Kulia, however, was a bit concerned about my behavior.

“Now mommy,” she began,  ”when we get there, call me by my real name.”

“What?” I replied. ” Real name?  What do you mean?”

“You know!  My real names.  Nothing silly.”

“Oh, ok.  Can I call you Peanut?”

“No.”

“Bitty?”

“No.”

“Ku-wee-wee?”

No.

“How about Honey?”

“No, mommy, only my REAL names!  Only use one of my three real names!”

“Ok, all right, I won’t call you any silly names.  Can I call you Kulia?”

“Yes, you can call me Kulia McLaughlin Baby.”

“Whaa? Wait, what are your names?”

“KULIA…MCLAUGHLIN….BABY!”

“OK, so I can call you Baby?  That’s ok?”

“Yes!  It’s my real name you know!”

So there you have it.  Her three real names.  And no silly ones please!

My kids are officially oriented. Both children have learned where to put their backpacks, how to find the girls’ room, and the quickest way to the playground. Up next, their first official day alone in class. If orientation is any indication, they will both breeze into their new role as Student without a backward glance. I find myself not crying over lost babies but trying to figure out how much “me” time I can squeeze into a measly 6 hours a week. If only Oregon did full day kindergarten. Sigh.

For now, I’m just trying to remember to take a picture of each kid before they head out the door for their first day of school. Ah, the burden of being a mom!

We had a nice weekend.  Kat and Josh came down to visit and brought Melo so the girls could get some puppy love.  They commiserated with us over the loss of Artie and we retold all of our crazy dog stories which was fun.  Kat went with me to pick up Artie’s ashes which was hard.  But he’s home now at last.  Then,the girls and I went over to Al’s and bought a little dogwood tree and some day lilies that we planted in the backyard.  We are going to make a little stone marker too and bury him there under the tree.  I think he’d like that.

This week we are busy with zoo camp for the girls.  Leina is an old hand at it by now but this is the first summer that Kulia has been able to go.   Because they are both so close in age, I was able to get them together in the same age group so Leina can show her little sister the ropes.   Kulia was very quiet on the ride over to the zoo on Monday.  She spent the whole ride sucking her thumb and worrying Patches.  When I went to pick her up, however, she was bursting with energy and chatter and declared that it wasn’t scary at all!  Leina isn’t very happy about having her little sister tag along but this is the burden that all older sisters must bare.  I still remember trying to play 4-square on the school playground with Suzy holding onto my hand the entire time when we changed schools.  Us olders have such a cross to bear…..

Just a quick post to let you know that Kulia is back on her feet and we are all so happy to have her bouncing around the house again.  Especially her sister!  Leina spent the last few days moping around the house, declaring there was no one to play with, and upset because no one was paying any attention to her.

Yes, Leina is very happy to have her sister back and up to her old tricks!